Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 896: Vol V Chapter 256

The God of War’s key idea was that war could eliminate the weak and allow the strong to have access to a greater amount of resources for them to further improve.

Sui Xiong was not unfamiliar with such a notion. When he was still living on Earth, there were many people with the same belief online. According to many of his Internet friends, such a belief was known as “Social Darwinism.”

Social Darwinism was a rather interesting theory that was linked to natural elimination and the development of living creatures. It seemed rather logical as well. However, when Sui Xiong was still schooling in the past, he had learned how to refute such a theory.

Credit had to be given to Professor Cheng, who loved to share and talk about life all the time. Although this professor’s main area of study was art history and not ancient Classics, sociology or revolutionary history, he nevertheless enjoyed beating around the bush in class, and those who were in his art history class (including Sui Xiong) all gained many insights from his blabbering.

One of these insights was coincidentally relate to this Social Darwinism theory.

Professor Cheng was a very flexible man who liked to test subject matter that was outside of the syllabus. He felt that having a fixed lesson structure in university was too limiting and had even tested Social Darwinism in his tests before rather than on art history content.

Sui Xiong still recalled that test clearly in his mind.

After thinking back carefully, Sui Xiong broke the silence and said, “Wenner, I have a question to ask you.”

The God of War turned around and asked, “What is it?”

“You mentioned that nature works by eliminating the weak in fights and that war also helps to pick out the strongest and most adaptable species. Well, do you have concrete proof for that?”

The God of War was startled and thought for a while before replying, “Is that not just common sense? In a pack of wolves, the strongest wolf will be able to hoard the most food for itself and develop itself further. Eventually, it will most likely become the leader of the pack as well. It is only with such a strong leader that the entire pack will have the power to continue for generations and reproduce… This is common sense for anyone who has ever lived in the wild or been outdoors before!”

Sui Xiong smiled. “In that case, I want to ask a question. From the ancient times till now, for animals such as wolves, have they actually become increasingly stronger as a species?”

The God of War froze again. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time before his face turned ashen and a little pale.

“Strange… It seems as though if one were to compare the wolves of the past and present, the wolves of the past were a little stronger….”

Among the gods present, many had been living for at least a few thousands or even tens of thousands of years. With Sui Xiong’s prompts, they began to search their memories of the past as well.

Their unanimous verdict from the memories was not unexpected as everyone had lived through the same centuries, and no one else was from another world. All the history of this world was lived through simultaneously by all these gods. It thus was not surprising that they had similar ideas of what had happened before.

Seeing as he had prompted a flurry of discussion from the gods, Sui Xiong smiled slightly before continuing to speak. “According to what I know, from the past till now, the Main Plane’s general trend is that individual species’ capabilities have been dropping. At the same time, ethnic groups have been increasing in size, which means that the chances of them increasing in strength has increased as well, right?”

The gods nodded.

“Let’s take the humans as an example. The humans in the past were actually rather strong, and they were able to use their bare fists to fight low-level demons without the need for any tools. Such fighting abilities could compare to the explorers of our current time period, and excellent ones at that! One might even compare that skill level to our current mid-level standard. However, in the past, when the God of Knights had just formally become a god and humans were still being oppressed by the Orcs, as long as one was middle-aged or fully grown, they would most likely possess such abilities. Am I correct?”

The several elders amongst the gods as well as history buffs all nodded again in agreement.

“Furthermore, in the past, among the beasts, the chances of demon beasts appearing was much more common than the present. During that time, in the wild, if one were to stumble upon a random wolf pack, the leader of the pack would most likely be a demon beast. Amongst the pack, there would also be several demon beasts as well.”

The elders continued to nod.

“Herein lies the issue. If we follow the God of War’s proposed idea that war eliminates the weak and allows for the stronger species to continue growing and thriving, the ancient living creatures should be weaker than they were previously, but it is the opposite case now.”

The gods glanced at each other, and everyone was unsure as to how to respond to that statement.

Right at this moment, the God of Water Elements spoke up, “I’ve heard of a saying that from the past till now, the purity of the Main Plane’s magic has diluted, which is why the strength of the living creatures has decreased.”

Sui Xiong smiled and said, “You are the oldest amongst the gods. For some, talking about the past may be like discussing history with them. You, however, have personally lived through it. Do you agree with that opinion then?”

“Up till just now, I believed it.” The God of Water Elements smiled bitterly. “However, now, I’m not so sure.”

“Why?”

“Now that I think about it again closely, although it is true that the magic of the Main Plane is no longer as pure as before, at the same time, it has also been raised several times. Overall, then, the purity of the magic as compared to the past has not lowered too significantly. One can tell from the highest levels of strength of each species. The top masters of each species are not weaker than those of the past. If the legendary demon beasts of the present were to travel to the past, they would be able to harm the Legendary Masters of the past easily.”

The God of Water Elements was the eldest senior among the gods and had the authority and justification to make such statements. With his background, if he said such words, they were definitely accurate and could be trusted.

The gods became even more confused at this rate. If it was true that the magic purity of the Main Plane had decreased and caused the living creatures to become weaker in general, that may be a logical reason for the progress of each species over time. However, in reality, the situation was that the magic purity’s decrease had been rather negligible, which meant that it could not account for the decrease in strength of the living creatures.

Sui Xiong smiled as he watched the gods discuss the matter or get lost in thought. He waited a long time before opening his mouth again.

“Towards this, I have a proposition that may explain this phenomenon. Hear me out and see if you agree with me.”

The gods’ gazes returned to Sui Xiong as they were curious as to what he had to say.

“We all know that other than a few legendary creatures, most species need to reproduce to ensure their species continues for generations. There is thus the question of what can be done to ensure that one’s next generation could be more prosperous and stable.”

“I guess one would need to ensure their own strength is sufficient first,” one of the gods made a guess. “As long as they are strong enough to protect their next generation, this will continue on for the generations to come.”

“That’s a good guess. However, my question to you is, how can one ensure that they continuously grow and never meet with any setbacks?” Sui Xiong continued to prompt the gods.

The god who had spoken up lowered his head as he was unable to answer further.

No one else had an answer either.

If there were really solutions that could be easily uttered, everyone present would have used whatever mentioned method to become Divine Powers. Why would they still remain at their own levels if it were so easy to improve and upgrade themselves?

“In my opinion, with the constant changes taking place in this world and in the face of constant uncertainty of daily life and dangers, depending on one’s growth alone cannot maintain a species. In comparison, the simplest and most reliable method would be to have mass reproduction,” Sui Xiong said.

The gods laughed heartily at this. It was true! If one had more children, they quantifiably had more chances to continue their species through their multiple offspring.

“The issue is that giving birth is easy, but nurturing a child is difficult. For a child to grow up well, it needs sufficient food. If a species is too large, it will be hard for them to ensure that each child receives the resources he needs.”

The laughter died down, and the gods started racking their brains again.

“I know several dragons who are able to eat one whole cow by themselves. If they eat in such a manner on a daily basis, it would mean that they required a scarily high amount of food. They thus hibernate often to conserve energy. If a dragon were to start reproducing at the age of ten and give birth to one child each year, with 50 or 60 offspring, how many cows do you think they would need?”

The laughter had completely died down now, and all the gods were deep in thought.

“In that case, for many species, it is appropriate for them to become weaker while giving birth more rapidly.” Sui Xiong smiled and concluded his idea. “With more offspring that are less maintained, they require fewer resources but are still able to lay the foundation for the growth and continuity of their species.”

This last sentence was actually a question on his final exam back when he was still on Earth.